And the plot thickens

Any MMA fan that has been studying the sport for a reasonable amount of time remembers the infamous day on Jan 19th, 2011 when Dana White said women “will never” fight in the UFC. Fast forward to the year 2016 and Dana White has been eating his words, fortunately for him those words taste like lobsters and steak. His biggest cash cow Ronda Rousey smashed gate numbers with nearly 7 million earned and 57,000 in attendance in her Etihad Stadium UFC 193 bout with Holly Holm in Melbourne Australia. More recently, Dana White also declared that he wasn’t interested in anything higher than a women’s bantamweight division, but with the signing of Chris “Cyborg” it seems he has an uncanny knack for proving himself wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fReLBq-QHnc Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino Venancio was recently signed to the already stacked UFC 198 Brazilian card at the catchweight of 140lbs. The Zuffa signed knockout artist is known for her intimidating physique and raw power, finishing all of her last 9 opponents via KO under Invicta Promotions. Her opponent will be another former Invicta fighter and UFC veteran Leslie Smith. With both fighter specializing in striking, it should be a good stand up war for as long as it lasts. But the implications for this action is huge. Despite being one of the most powerful women fighters we’ve seen to date, Cyborg also has a long standing rivalry with UFC darling Ronda Rousey – will the fight finally happen? While this is definitely a step in the right direction I wouldn’t go selling the family farm just yet. After a devastating loss we’re still not sure if Ronda will ever comes back. When she does she still has a date with Current bantamweight champion Miesha Tate and most likely a rematch with Holly Holm. The next question is even if they did fight, what weight class would it be at?  With Cyborg claiming she can’t go lower than 140 and Ronda never fighting higher than 135, something’s going to have to give. Even if there was an agreed bout of 140, how could they keep Cyborg as just an exhibition match? Eventually Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White would have to make an 14o /145lb division and give them a title to defend – and “If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want some milk”. This could be the signing that opens up the floodgates in regards to getting the women’s weight divisions on par with the men’s. I can see it now, TUF 26, featherweight women’s division – head coaches Ronda Rousey vs. Chris “Cyborg”. But why stop there? It seems the shake up in the weight divisions is coming from all sides. Current strawweight champ Joanna J?drzejczyk was recently on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” talking about how she would love to be a dual title holder of the 115 and 125lb weight classes. While a 125lb (flyweight) division doesn’t currently exist, it seems Joanna might be letting us in on a little secret, and the new women’s division may be closer than we think. If we’ve learned anything from the past it’s that you can’t stop progress, whether you like it or not, the world of MMA is no different. What do you think is in store for the UFC women’s division? Will things change or will they stay the same?